HUDDERSFIELD will send out a very experimental back line tomorrow when they entertain Darlington Mowden Park in their final National III North rugby union home game of the season (3.00).
With the League campaign scheduled to have finished three weeks ago (tomorrow’s match is a re-arranged clash from February) a number of players are unavailable and coach Mark Sowerby is therefore giving an opportunity to a number of first-team fringe players.
The Paxman brothers (Ben and Lee) and Matt Johnson are all away at family weddings, while Matt Clarke is out with a troublesome shoulder injury, and Chris Johnson is included in the Yorkshire county squad, so the back line has a completely new look to it.
Only Alex Shaw remains as a constant, with Phil Wilson and Tom Truelove called onto the wings, with Tom van Rooyen playing at inside centre, alongside skipper Mark Whitehead who is moved out of the pack.
Scrum half Joel Hinchliffe will start at No10, with Damian Clayton at No9, although the latter could be switched to fly-half if necessary.
With the exception of prop Tony Stringwell (holiday) the pack remains the same and should test a Darlington side who are now resigned to relegation back into North 1 next season.
“With several players missing it provides a good opportunity for some of our youngsters, like Tom van Rooyen, to have a good run-out in the first team,” said Sowerby.
“We have had some good performances over the last few weeks, with great wins over Fylde and Harrogate, as well as two good displays in the Yorkshire Cup, and it would be nice to finish the season off in style,” (Huddersfield’s campaign ends next week at Kendal).
Huddersfield: Shaw; Truelove, Whitehead, van Rooyen, Wilson; Slater, Davies, McPhail, Rhodes, Hinchliff, Jacobsz, Sharrock, Sharpe. Subs: Battye, Gough, Rothery, Entressengle, Sowerby.
